Goaltender Jim Craig exploded onto the hockey scene when he joined the US National Team following his collegiate career with Boston University. Craig, born in North Easton, Massachusetts on May 31st 1957, made his mark by backstopping the Americans to a surprise gold medal in the 1980 Olympics. Craig's solid netminding, highlighted by 39 saves versus the Soviet Union and 6-0-1 record in the tournament were instrumental in the "Miracle on Ice" as it's come to be known when the USA dispatched the Russians en route to Olympic glory. Immediately following the Games Craig made the leap to the National Hockey League with the Atlanta Flames.

Craig's Cindarella year continued when he posted a victory in his NHL debut with the Flames, but he was unable to add another win to his record in the remaining three games he played at the end of the 1079-80 season. That summer the Flames traded Craig to his home-state Boston Bruins in exchange for two draft picks.

With the Bruins Craig played 23 games and posted a 9-7-6 record but failed to make a lasting impression and veteran Rogie Vachon played the bulk of the games. The following season young Marco Baron and Vachon took over the duties and Craig found himself in the minors. In 1982 Craig returned to the scene of his greatest success when he joined the US National Team.

Craig played 26 games for the Nats and performed well enough to catch the attention of the NHL once more. The Minnesota North Stars, who were being led by former "Miracle on Ice" player Neal Broten offered Craig a free agent contract.

Much of the 1983-84 season was spent in the minors, but Craig did surface with the North Stars for three games. They would be the last games of his NHL career. After the season ended Craig retired from hockey.

In his post-hockey career Craig, who studied business and marketing at Boston University, worked as a marketing service consultant. Craig then became broker/business manager with Valassis Communications.

In 1999 Jim Craig was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation's Hall of Fame.

REGULAR SEASON

PLAYOFFS

Season

Club

League

GP

W

L

T

SO

Avg

GP

W

L

T

SO

Avg

1974-75

Oliver Ames Tigers

High-MA

57

54

2

1

2.11

1975-76

Massasoit Jr. College

NCAA-2

1976-77

Boston University Terriers

ECAC

1977-78

Boston University Terriers

ECAC

16

16

0

0

0

3.72

5

5

0

0

0

3.34

1978-79

Boston University Terriers

ECAC

19

13

4

2

1

3.57

2

1

1

0

0

4.00

1978-79

United States

WEC-A

5

2

1

2

0

2.14

1979-80

United States

Nat-Tm

48

0

2.37

1979-80

United States

Olympics

7

6

0

1

0

2.14

1979-80

Atlanta Flames

NHL

4

1

2

1

0

3.79

1980-81

Boston Bruins

NHL

23

9

7

6

0

3.68

1981-82

Erie Blades

AHL

13

3

9

1

0

4.61

1982-83

United States

Nat-Tm

26

2

2.64

1983-84

Minnesota North Stars

NHL

3

1

1

0

0

4.91

1983-84

Salt Lake Golden Eagles

CHL

27

1

4.23

3

0

4.07

NHL Totals

30

11

10

7

0

3.77

ECAC First All-Star Team (1979) NCAA East First All-American Team (1979) WEC-B All-Star Team (1983)

Traded to Boston by Atlanta for Boston's 2nd round pick (Steve Konroyd) in 1980 NHL Draft and Boston's 3rd round pick (Mike Vernon) in 1981 NHL Draft, June 2, 1980. Signed as a free agent by Minnesota, March 2, 1983.